News on informal economy

  1. ILO and Viet Nam collaboration

    ILO Director-General meets Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister

    02 March 2023

    The ILO Director-General and the Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister held talks about cooperation on key work issues, including decent work, social protection, and the transition from the informal economy to the formal economy.

  2. © Kouassi G / OIT 2023

    Director-General's mission to Côte d'Ivoire

    ILO Director-General welcomes Côte d'Ivoire's action on social protection

    27 February 2023

    During his visit to Abidjan, ILO Director-General, Gilbert F. Houngbo, stressed the need to promote decent work in the cocoa sector.

  3. Spotlight Interviews with Co-operators

    Interview with Akkanut Wantanasombut – founder of community-based social and solidarity economy platform

    23 February 2023

    “Spotlight Interviews with Co-operators” is a series of interviews with co-operators from around the world with whom ILO officials have crossed paths in the course of their work on cooperatives and the wider social and solidarity economy (SSE). On this occasion, ILO interviewed Akkanut Wantanasombut, researcher at the Institute of Asia Studies at Chulalongkorn University, Thailand, and founder of “Tamsang-Tamsong”, a community-based social and solidarity economy platform.

  4. Spotlight Interviews with Co-operators

    StreetNet International: Organizing street vendors towards formalization and economic empowerment

    10 February 2023

    “Spotlight Interviews with Co-operators” is a series of interviews with co-operators from around the world with whom ILO officials have crossed paths in the course of their work on cooperatives and the wider social and solidarity economy (SSE). On this occasion, ILO interviewed Lorraine Ndlovu, President of the Zimbabwe Chamber of Informal Economy Associations (ZCIEA), President of StreetNet International and a board member of Women in Informal Economy Globalizing Organizing (WIEGO).

  5. Labour Overview 2022 for Latin America and the Caribbean

    Informality and working poverty weigh down labour markets in Latin America and the Caribbean

    07 February 2023

    Unemployment rate fell to 7.2 per cent in 2022, but job quality problems persist as inflation impacts wage levels. It is a complex and uncertain scenario, says new edition of Labour Overview report.

  6. News

    Japan International Labour Foundation reaches out to hundreds of informal workers in South East Asia using ILO’s orientation and learning tools on cooperatives

    27 January 2023

    The ILO’s Our.COOP tools provide an opportunity to train informal workers on the values of collaboration through cooperatives.

  7. News

    How dialogue can help address challenges to informality for refugees and host communities in Kenya

    05 January 2023

    Following the release of an assessment report by ILO PROSPECTS, government, employers and informal workers representatives agree on strategies to support the transition to formality, advance inclusive economic development and sustainable livelihoods.

  8. News

    ILO Constituents Re-affirm the Importance of Social Dialogue as a path towards formalization and Decent Work for Youth in the Middle East and North Africa region

    29 November 2022

    The ILO Constituents agreed to a framework for action in the region on the 2nd day of the first regional meeting of the Social Dialogue for Formalization and Employability in the Southern Neighbourhood Region (SOLIFEM) Project, which took place in Algiers, in collaboration with the Algerian Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security. SOLIFEM is co-financed by the European Union and the ILO.

  9. News

    ILO COOP Participates in the CECOP Lights On Research Launch Conference in Italian

    28 November 2022

    On November 24, 2022, the European Confederation of Industrial and Service cooperatives (CECOP) launched the Italian translation of the report that documents how workers’ and social cooperatives can assist workers and enterprises in the transition to the formal economy in Europe.

  10. © FAO Forestry 2023

    ILOSTAT blog

    Forest sector employs 33 million around the world, according to new global estimates

    25 November 2022

    Quantifying how many people are employed in the forest sector is not a straightforward exercise. Nonetheless, the ILO, FAO and the Thünen-Institute of Forestry joined forces to estimate the global workforce in forest-related activities and provide insights on labour market trends in this sector.